1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a roller mounted chair that is used by a patient to transfer into or out of a shower or bathtub area and wherein improvements have been made to the roller mounted chair to make it more safe and reliable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many typical prior art transfer benches include a simple, flat, water impervious seat, two pairs of legs which straddle the edge of the bathtub, and a back. In general it is difficult for some patients to slide across that type of prior art seat due to the friction of the surface of the seat and the weakness of the patient. In order to keep water from running off the seat and out of the tub, it is frequently necessary to make the inside legs slightly shorter than the outside legs. The resulting inclination can be hazardous to patients with limited muscular abilities. It is also not possible to draw a shower curtain across the bench when it is used because the seat interferes with the normal path of the curtain. It is also noted that it is difficult for a patient using a solid seat to clean himself from underneath. Moreover, the prior art design just described is generally uncomfortable because of the hard unyielding nature of the materials used.
Roller type transfer benches are known to a limited degree. For example, Maling, U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,969 entitled TRAVELLING CHAIR FOR SHOWER STALLS discloses an earlier version of a transfer bench in which a three-wheeled chair rides into and out of a shower stall on two parallel tracks of unequal length. Additional roller arrangements for getting into or out of bathtubs or shower stalls are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,703,733; 4,091,479; and 4,150,447.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,237,076 and 4,166,297 disclose non-movable bathtub chairs of possible limited interest.